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The sponsors don't pay less if you skip the segment. They won't know.

There’s some data available for this in the YouTube dashboard, actually.

Yes, the alternative to ads is paying. As someone mentioned in this thread: It's kinda shit that these sponsored segments don't get skipped automatically if you pay for premium.

I am too greedy to pay for premium tbh and as long as µblock works with the normal ads, I'm fine. If it stops working one day, I'll probably rather stop using youtube instead of paying for premium

Just to make you aware, they added pseudo SponsorBlock on TY Premium.

If you "skip" 10 seconds on a sponsored segment a "skip to next part button" will appear on screen to the end of the sponsored segment (it does not use chapters and it does not appear 100% of times)

Some alternatives include merchandise, sponsorships (Patreon etc), tipping, and organic engagement / sharing so that more people can find them and give them money.